It is our custom to bless people who are starting to look for help. We know it is not easy. It’s scary. You don’t really know what it will be like. But if you are sick and tired of being sick and tired, it is a sane decision. And that counts for a lot. We have some experience, strength and hope to share and we hope it will be helpful.

Preaching

If we pretend to be nice pastors preaching to nice churches full of nice people. . . nobody is probably going to be helped. Once we understand the extent to which abuse and trauma have impacted the people who come to church to hear us preach, it will change how we preach. Or more accurately, it will change us. . . and as a result we will preach differently. The central issue here is will we, as proclaimers of Good News, be able to pay attention long enough to what is real about life on a fallen planet? Will we be able to see the world differently — as if abuse mattered? The biblical text is rich with wonderful texts that can be helpful to people who have been abused. The question is: will we be able to hear what the text is saying? Will we be able to hear it from the frame of reference of those who have been abused — those who sit in our congregations?